Yarn-winding apparatus



May 23, 1961 G. H. NELSON ETAL,

YARN-WINDING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 6. 1958 III II v 2/ /7 YARN-WINDING APPARATUS George H. Nelson and William H. Newton, lVIeadvi lle,

Pa., assignors to American Viscose Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 6, 1958, Ser. No. 707,409

1 Claim. (Cl; 242-18) The present invention relates to apparatus for collecting yarn on suitable tube holders made of plastic, cardboard, etc. In particular, the invention relates to a yarn-winding apparatus for collecting continuous yarn upon a cone-typeholder wherein improved means are provided to prevent the yarn traverse guide assembly from walking away from'the package of yarn during the yarn collecting operation.

With the cone-type winding apparatus mentioned above, the counterweighted yam-traversing guide lies directly and lightly in contact with the cone surface at the start of the yarn collection operation. As the yarn package is built upon the cone, the package urges the traverse guide backward away from the yarn package to permit the package to build up during the winding .operation. Such a winder is of a common type which is more orless universally used in the textile industry. This general type of winding apparatus is produced by the Universal Winding Machine Company.

By walking away we mean that action wherein the yarn traverse mechanism moves too far, away from ,or

jumps back away from the growing yarn package at intervals during the collection of the yarn. The normal movement of the traverse mechanism should be very gradual and should be effected solely by the pressure of the growing yarn package against the traverse guidesupport. When walking away occurs, a soft and/or distorted yarn package is formed. Such a package is, of course, undesirable for use in later fabric-producing operations in that the yarn will become tangled during the unwinding operation in view of the distorted shape of the yarn package. This walking away condition may easily result from wear of parts, improper counterweight balancing, minimized back-pressure applied on the traverse guide assembly because of weak strength yarn being processed and other factors commonly known to those skilled in the art.

Such deficiency could be easily corrected if the backpressure upon a traverse mechanism assembly were merely increased. This is not possible, however, with all types of yarn such as cellulose acetate or viscose rayon yarn since the amount of back-pressure required to prevent the guide from walking away from the yarn package during the yarn collection operation would cause the yarn to break. In other words, the strength of this yarn does not permit the required amount of back-pressure to be applied to prevent walking away of the traverse guide mechanism.

Most of the prior devices developed in an attempt to prevent walking away of the traverse guide feature self-locking arrangements or a one-Way clutch as well as dog and segment arrangements. These devices have not proven to be satisfactory in that they do not satisfactorily prevent the traverse mechanism from Walking away from the yarn package during formation of the package.

It is therefore one object of our invention to provide a yarn-winding apparatus wherein novel and improved Patented May 23, 1961 winding apparatus showingour novel snubbing assembly for the traverse mechanism combined therewith;

Figure 2 is an enlarged section taken along line II;-II of Figure 1; and I Figure 3 is a section taken along line III-III of Figure 1.

Before setting forth the description in detail of our apparatus, we should like to generallydefine the terms snub, snubber and snubbing asrused throughout the specification and claims. By theseterms we mean a checking or curbing action or force which resists uncles sirable excessive movements of the traverse m chanis to; ward and away from the .yarn package.

-. Refe r n now to t e a i F re 1 sh s yar wi ng a p a us A fo -colle ing yarn n a suitable h d su a a an s s en n t e dra i g, a ollecting (cone .1 is supported on a suitable mandrel 3 which is journaled in end supports 5 (only one being shown). Means (not shown) are provided for'rotating the mandre13 whereby a continuous yarn 7 may be collected in w und pa k g f rm upon t e cone 1- A further s en in Figure l, the yarn 7 passes through a traversing guide .9 whereby t ya n s moved b ck an f r h c o the cone surface to collect the yarn'thereupon ,in even super,- imnose l ye s. For purposes of clarification, the guide 9, is shown in its fully withdrawn positionaway f om ,the cone surface. The t av rse gui e i upported on an arm 1 h is pivotally secured at 13 to the end 5 of the winding apparatus. The opposite end of the arm 11 terminates in a counterweight 15- which acts to provide controlled or predetermined back-pressure which tends to urge the guide 9 inwardly toward the cone or yarn package built up thereupon but is of such a weight that it does not prohibit movement of the guide away from the yarn package as the package builds up and applies outward pressure against the traverse guide 9.

Our invention relates to specific means combined with the above described type of yarn-winding apparatus for preventing the traverse guide and its support from walking away from the yarn package as the package builds up.

We provide a snubbing action to check or curb, but not restrict to any excessive degree, movement of the traverse guide 9 and its supporting arm 11 away from the yarn package being formed. As further seen in Figures 1-3, a snubber post 17 is mounted on a snubber bracket 19 which is in turn permanently secured to the usual upper stop member 21 which limits the upward movement (to the left in Figure l) of the arm 11. A friction rod 23 extends through a channel 25 (Figure 2) cut through the post 17. The channel 25 is of somewhat larger diameter than the diameter of the friction rod 23 whereby the rod is permitted to rock or swing within the channel. The opposite end of the friction rod 23 terminates in a sleeve fitting 27' which fits over a rod 29 extending outwardly from the arm 11 (see Figure 2).

Figure 3 shows in detail the preferred make-up of the snubber post 17 with the rod 23 extending therethrough. As seen therein, the post 17 is bored out at its center through the bottom half of the post to accommodate a retaining bolt 31 which anchors the post 17 to the snubber bracket support 19. The upper half of the post is counterbored to provide a larger diameter chamber 33 which houses a pair of opposing bearing blocks 35, 35 between which the friction rod 23 is supported in a sliding relationship. A cap 37 fits over the top of the snubber post 17 to close 01f the chamber 33. In'addi tion, a spiral pressure spring 39 is secured to the ceiling of the cap 37 with the opposite end thereof restingupon the upper bearing block 35. By adjusting the vertical position of the cap 37 upon the post 17, the pressure of the spring 39 against the bearing block 35 and the friction rod 23 may be varied as desired to increase or decrease the friction against the rod 23. The cap 37 maybe secured to the post 17 through a suitable thread track as shown in Figure 3. The sliding or snubbing ability of the rod 23 within the post 17 may therebybe decreased or increased as desired. 1 v v t In operation, the operator firstswingsthe arm 11 in a counterclockwise direction to urge the traverse guide 9' against the cone 1; This moves the friction rod 23 to the left, as seen in Figure 1, to move the rod 23 substantially all the way through the post 17. Before moving the rod 23 to the left, the cap 37 is raised to relieve the pressure applied upon the spring 39 and the rod' 23 to permit the rod to slide readily as it is urged toward its starting position. Depending upon the type of yarn being wound upon the cone 1, the operator then adjusts the pressure applied upon the friction rod 23 as described above in discussing Figure 3. After the apparatus is so set up, the winding operation is then initiated. As the yarn package builds upon the cone 1, it will gradually urge the traverse guide 9 and'its' supporting arm 11 T 4 The same pressure will tend to prevent any movement of the arm 11 and guide 9 toward theyarn package.

From the above description we have provided a novel and improved assembly which will satisfactorily curb or check walking away of the traverse guide from the yarn package being built upon the cone 1.

It is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

We claim:

In a yarn winding machine, a rotating spindle for supporting a yarn package, a yarn guide for traversing a yarn over the yarn package, an arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends, said arm carrying said yarn guide at one end and having a counterweight at the other end which tends to swing said arm in a direction to engage the yarn guide with the package, a rod pivotally connected at one end to said arm, a snubber acting on said rod, said snubber comprising a pair of blocks bearing against said rod and resilient means urging said blocks into contact with said rod, said resilient means being manually adjustable for varying the frictional engagement between said blocks and said rod, said blocks acting with the same force for both directions of movement of the rod, and said snubber acting additively with said counterweight to impede movement of, said yarn guide away from the package and subtracting from the force of said counterweight in inhibiting movement of said yarn guide toward the package.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,444,032 Mobbs Feb. 6, 1923 1,799,153 Brink Apr. 7, 1931 2,165,018 Taylor July 4, 1939 2,243,678 McKean May 27, 1941 2,466,109 Iencks Apr. 5, 1949 2,488,305 Manger Nov. 15, 1949 2,594,509 Stahl Apr. 29, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,540 Great Britain Jan. 20, 1910 479,032 France Nov. 9, 1915 649,836 Great Britain--- i Feb. 7, 1951 

